Indigo Slam by Robert Crais

Elvis Cole, Joe Pike, Robert Crais . . . comfort food.

The only issue on Cole’s plate is how to keep his plants healthy. That is until 15yo Teri Haines and her 12yo brother Charles and 9yo sister Winona wander into the office of The World’s Greatest Detective. Seems their dad, Clark, has been missing for about a week and they want Elvis to find him. Seems simple enough. Guy’s probably on a bender or in Vegas. No problem.

So, Elvis and Joe Pike set out with all the goods needed for a day’s work: Elvis with his Dan Wesson .45 neatly tucked in his shoulder holster and Pike with his Python .357, a Baretta autoloader combat sawed-off shotgun, and maybe an MX missile under the seat.

Clark is a printer by trade. A quick check with his employer, make that former employer, reveals the guy is an addict. Some phone records show extended recent calls to Phoenix and Seattle. Phoenix lead is a dud, but The Seattle number has potential so Elvis heads up there to nose around. Turns out our boy Clark not only was a printer, but had been making a little funny money for some local Russian mob types who were flooding phony dollars into the former Soviet Union.

Now, Clark was pretty darn good and skimmed a bit for himself. The Russians were none to happy with Clark and targeted him for elimination. That was enough for Clark to go to the US Marshal’s service, but the night the family was to be taken into protective custody, the Russian’s show up and shoot it out with the cops leaving a few dead Marshals. The Russians must have someone on the inside of the US Marshal's office.

Obviously, Clark didn’t trust the Marshal service and goes underground, living off his counterfeit cash. The trail goes alternatively hot and cold, but one thing Elvis does learn is that Clark has terminal cancer (thus the narcotics) and is looking for one more big score to set up his kids. And that score is making funny money, only this time for some Vietnamese revolutionaries who want to dump millions of dollars of local currency into Vietnam and destabilize the current government.

With the not too willing Secret Service, Elvis concocts a plan whereby the Russians are lured into a trap, get caught by the Secret Service, Clark is still allowed to print the Vietnamese cash, get paid, and set up his kids for life. But the plan goes array when son Charles, a sullen and angry kid, walks out of the safe house and gets himself snatched by the Russians, adding a layer of complexity and danger to the plan.

Crais is a favorite and I never tire of his stories or characters like I eventually did with Stuart Woods. In this 1997 story, Elvis is the smart aleck PI (but not as much as in earlier books) and Pike is there for when the going gets really tough. They may catch the bad guys, but Pike is always ready saying “We can always shoot them later.” OK, so Crais’s vision of the PI novel may be considered trite and wholly unrealistic by some, but Cole and Pike never fail to entertain. Don’t know where I’ll venture next with Crais. I do know that I am #5 on the waiting list when the library finally gets his new book in. Now that’ll be a good day. What's taking the library so long? It's in the stores.

Anyone know where I can find some red arrow fake tats pointing forward for my delts?

East Coast Don